Ottawa Senators Fan Blog

THE THREE TEAM DEAL THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN

There is a lot of reports today that the Senators and Lightning were working on a three team deal just hours before completing their trade. Earlier in the day, I had reported that Bryan Murray was once again speaking with the Blackhawks. Well after some late night and early morning digging, here is what almost went down.

The trade talks had the Senators sending Andrej Meszaros and Chris Neil to the Blackhawks. Chicago was to send Ottawa Brent Seabrook and a prospect (rumoured to be Bryan Bickell). The Hawks were then to turn Meszaros and Nikolai Khabibulin over to the Lightning in exchange for Filip Kuba, a first round pick, and a higher end forward such as Radim Vrbata or perhaps a Ryan Malone or Vaclav Prospal.

So what happened? I'm not sure really, but I'm guessing the proposed deal broke down in one of two places. Chicago was not ready to part with much more than Brent Seabrook when it came to the deal with the Senators while Ottawa wanted a little more return than that. And/or I'm guessing the Lightning probably felt like they were giving up too much as Chicago was talking about 30 goal scorers in return. But I'm just speculating. What I do know is that Khabibulin almost returned to the Bolts yesterday.

As for Chris Neil, I am hearing that there may still be a deal to be done with Chicago.

SENATORS DEAL MESZAROS TO BOLTS

Unable to re-claim their third round draft pick, the Tampa Bay Lightning instead traded for Senators blueliner Andrej Meszaros. Along with a first round draft pick, the Lightning send veteran blueline Filip Kuba, and forward Alexandre Picard to Ottawa.

In Kuba, the Senators gain a big framed defenceman (6'3, 205 pounds) who can move the puck well and score a few goals. In 531 games, Kuba has 55 goals and 207 points. The Senators may very well have ended up with a better player in Kuba, but they do lose on the age front on the blueline. Kuba will be 32 at the end of December.

Picard is a young winger with some potential, but is likely to be a career grinder. He brings some speed, and tenacity, and could yet develop into a valuable player under the right guidance.

The Senators also get a first round draft pick in the deal. With the Lightning getting better in the offseason, this will not as likely be a lottery pick, but if it is, the Senators could have very well cemented their future with this deal. More likely, this will be a pick in the middle of the round. Even though the Sens got a little older on the blueline in this deal, with the first round pick and Picard, this team may actually get better younger assets overall.

This is good deal by Murray who was going to have no choice but to overpay for Meszaros' services. And Murray may not be done yet, as he is reportedly still talking the Chicago.

Correction: At the time of posting, this first round draft pick was thought to be Tampa's own. In fact, this is San Jose's first round pick. So the likelihood of the pick being a very high one is even slimmer. Alexandre Picard is actually listed as a defenceman, I had the Columbus Picard in mind. My apologies for the confusion.

MESZAROS TO RECEIVE OFFER SHEET FROM BOLTS

The Andrej Meszaros saga took a turn today as rumours that the Tampa Bay Lightning intend of tendering an offer sheet for the services of Andrej Meszaros have been confirmed by multiple sources close to both the hockey club and Ottawa Senators as well, and in fact, an offer sheet may have already been signed.

The offer is send to be in the $4.5 - $5 million range. This amount would result in Tampa's first, second and third round pick going Ottawa's way in 2009. It appears as if the Lightning have swung a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins to get a third round pick back which would allow them to make to tender the offer sheet. Murray is unlikely to match the offer because of salary cap restrictions and he is unlikely to get that kind of return should he be able to deal him.

There are also some rumours swirling today that something might be brewing again with the Chicago Blackhawks. Details as they become available.

MESZAROS UPDATE

It's been a while, since there has been very little to report lately. I do have an "update" on the status of Andrej Meszaros. I reported a while back that Murray offered in the $3.5 million/yr neighbourhood in a multi-year deal.

The Meszaros camp is stuck on both money and term. All along, Meszaros has been seeking a four year, $18 million deal.

I think all this will end up in a three year, $11 million dollar deal, perhaps with a fourth year at an option. Expect to see Meszaros when camp begins.

MURRAY NOT LOOKING TO TRADE VERMETTE

Antoine Vermette's new deal with the Ottawa Senators makes him untradeable. By this I mean that the deal he made with Bryan Murray is so good for the Senators, Murray could not possibly trade him. And if he somehow brought himself to actually trade the two-way forward, he would stand to get a lot in return because of the deal. With a cap hit of under $3 million per year for a guy coming off a 25 goal season, for one of the better face-off guys in the NHL, for a stubborn penalty killer such as he is, this is a steal.

If the Vancouver Canucks coveted Vermette before, they must be drooling over him now. Murray played this perfectly, standing strong, willing to go to arbitration, and came out a clear winner. Thing is, Vermette comes out a winner too. If he can continue to improve, he will hit the free agent market as a valuable two-way forward. His payday is sure to come. Throw away the trade rumours, because it would have to be one sweetheart of an offer for Murray to part with such a key component to Ottawa's secondary scoring at the price their paying for his services.

Update on Andrej Meszaros - Here is what happened - Mez received a final offer from Murray. He came back with a shortened length and they appeared to be closing in on a deal. Meszaros is now weighing this offer against the Russian offer. I am unaware of any deadline being given to Meszaros to accept the deal or counter, but I am guessing that it's open ended for now anyway.